Thursday, June 30, 2016

Free the jailed members of satirical YouTube group

Egyptian
authorities should drop their investigation into six young men who
posted satirical videos commenting on Egypt’s politics on YouTube and
release four of them, who have been detained since May 10, 2016. The
investigation appears to be based purely on their satirical videos and
violates the right to free speech.

Prosecutors are investigating the men, of a group called Street
Children, after the Interior Ministry’s National Security Agency alleged
that they are “instigators against the ruling regime” who plotted to
use “the internet, social media sites and YouTube” to spread video clips
that would undermine the country’s stability by inciting citizens to
protest. Prosecutors also investigated the four men in custody about
terrorism-related accusations. On June 20, the East Cairo Public
Prosecution Office sent the case to the Supreme State Security
Prosecution, saying it was out of its jurisdiction.

“Egypt under Sisi is losing its legendary sense of humor when it locks up young men for making satirical videos,” said Nadim Houry,
deputy Middle East and North Africa director. “This kind of blanket
repression leaves young people with few outlets to express themselves or
joke about their daily hardships.”

Security forces arrested Ezz al-Din Khaled, 19, the group’s youngest
member, on May 8. A judge released him on bail of 10,000 L.E (US$1,125)
on May 10, after prosecutors charged him with inciting protests and
using online platforms to insult state institutions. Security forces
arrested Mohamed Dessouky, Mohamed Adel, Mohamed Gabr, and Mohamed Yehia
on May 10 and are holding them in Cairo’s Heliopolis Police Station on
suspicion of the same charges. Prosecutors most recently renewed their
15-day detention order pending investigations on June 18.

Under international law, a judge, not a prosecutor, should promptly
review any arrest. However, Egyptian law allows extended periods of
pretrial detention without judges’ orders. The sixth member of the
group, Mostafa Zein, is under investigation but has not been arrested.

The week before the arrests, Street Children released a satirical music video in which they mocked President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and called on him to leave office.

Their lawyer, Mahmoud Othman, of the Association for Freedom of
Thought and Expression, an Egyptian human rights group, told Human
Rights Watch that East Cairo district prosecutors have interrogated the
four detained men about additional accusations. They include
establishing a group that calls for resisting the authorities,
disseminating false news to undermine public order, and inciting to
overthrow the “ruling regime.”

These accusations, under penal code articles 171 and 174, carry
possible 5-year prison sentences. The lawyer said that prosecutors also
threatened to use terrorism charges, including articles 86 and 86 bis,
which might lead to much longer sentences.

Prosecution reports reviewed by Human Rights Watch showed that
prosecutors are relying heavily on a two-page National Security Agency
report on Street Children, written by Major Ahmed Abd al-Rahman on May
6. The report, reviewed by Human Rights Watch, cites “trusted
confidential sources” who identified the group as “instigators” who
“distort the words of some national songs and replace them with verbal
abuse against the state.”

As is often the case in National Security reports, Major Abd
al-Rahman did not describe the sources, and prosecutors have not
questioned the officer further, said Othman, the lawyer. Based on the
memo, the Supreme State Security Prosecution granted National Security
officers a warrant to raid and inspect the men’s houses and arrest them.

The prosecution reports also showed that prosecutors questioned the
four men about “indirectly” inciting “terrorist crimes” and indirectly
disseminating terrorist thoughts by participating in videos that
contained terrorist ideas.

The six members of the group, most in their 20s, met at a theater
workshop and decided to move their performances to the street to make
them more accessible to people who cannot afford the theater, one of
their project coordinators told Human Rights Watch. In January, they
began posting their selfie-style videos, in which they sing about topics
including the Muslim Brotherhood, religious preachers, the value of the
Egyptian pound and the decision to cede two Red Sea islands to Saudi
Arabia, and have attracted more than 1.1 million views on their YouTube
Channel.

The group is also facing possible accusations of contempt of
religion, which prosecutors have used more often in recent months and
which led to 5-year prison sentences in absentia for four children in February because of their involvement in a short YouTube video mocking the extremist group Islamic State.

Reports in local newspapers
stated that the Alexandria Minor Offenses Prosecution began separate
investigations of Street Children based on a report, filed by lawyer
Tarek Mahmoud, that accused the group of insulting Islam in their
videos. Othman, the group’s lawyer, said that no one has been
interrogated on this accusation yet.

Following the arrest of the four group members, journalists,
professors, and other public figures began an online petition calling
for the four men’s unconditional release and “free rein to freedom of
opinion, imagination, and satire.”

Al-Sisi’s government severely restricts expression. Authorities have
arrested and prosecuted dozens of journalists and confiscated
journalistic material, according to a 2015 report
by the Association for Freedom of Thought and Expression. In late
January, security officials briefly arrested a cartoonist, Islam Gawish,
for his satirical comics that criticized the presidency and government
policies.

Asked about the government’s troubled relationship with youth activists, al-Sisi admitted during a televised interview
on June 3 that state institutions, including the presidency, had failed
to create mechanisms to effectively communicate with youth.

The investigations against the Street Children violate international
human rights laws. The resolution on the Declaration of Principles on
Freedom of Expression adopted by the African Commission on Human and
Peoples’ Rights in 2002 prohibits arbitrary interference by governments
in freedom of expression.

Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political
Rights, to which Egypt is a party, guarantees freedom of expression and
opinion. Limitations are permissible only when they are stated clearly
by law and are necessary to protect the rights or reputation of others
or national security, public order, public health, or morals.

The United Nations Human Rights Committee, the body responsible for monitoring the implementation of the covenant, stressed
that “the mere fact that forms of expression are considered to be
insulting to a public figure is not sufficient to justify the imposition
of penalties” and that “all public figures, including those exercising
the highest political authority such as heads of state and government,
are legitimately subject to criticism and political opposition.”

“Egypt’s youth have been a driving force for change since the 2011
uprising,” Houry said. “Upholding human rights and free speech is the
best way for al-Sisi to begin to repair the government’s relationship
with them.”